Hawaiʻi Educational Policy Center Conference to be held on January 18

A Hawaiʻi Educational Policy Center Conference will be held on Saturday, January 18, from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. at the Law School located at 2515 Dole Street. The conference is co-sponsored by UH Mānoa's College of Education, the Myron B. Thompson School of Social Work, and the William S. Richardson School of Law

The keynote speaker will be Professor Kathryn Davis from the Second Language Studies department. She will provide her perspective on the current state and future of English Language education in Hawaiʻi and beyond.

One panel of experts will examine some of the legal dimensions of immigration and language education in Hawaii. William Hoshijo, the Executive Director of the Hawai'i Civil Right Commission, will discuss language use and language learning as a civil rights issue in the history of Hawaii. Joakim Peters will discuss the legal and cultural challenges faced by families and young people coming to Hawaiʻi from Compact of Free Association nations. Victor Gemiani, Executive Director of Lawyers for Equal Justice/Appleseed will discuss the educational rights of ELL students in Hawaiʻi’s public schools.

A second panel will explore the challenges and opportunities created by immigrant and ELL students for educational policy makers in Hawaiʻi. The panel will consist of: Andy Weigand, Coordinator of ELL services for the DOE; ELL teacher/coordinator Diane Murakami; professor and researcher in the Second Language Studies department, Dr. Graham Crookes; and Dr. Patricia Halagao, a professor in the Department of Curriculum Studies and member of the Board of Education.

Ideally, the conference will not only provide a wealth of information on the topic of immigration and ELL, but also spark important discussion about educational policy choices facing Hawaiʻi in the future.